Page 113 of Top Secret Twenty-One (Stephanie Plum 21)

Five minutes later, the dogs were leashed and in the back of the Mercedes SUV. I drove to the office and brought the dogs in with me.

“What’s with the minions?” Lula asked.

“I’m babysitting.”

“Looks like you brought the little critters in a shiny new Mercedes,” Lula said. “We should take it to lunch.”

I looked at my watch. “It’s early for lunch.”

“Then we should take it to breakfast or brunch or whatever the hell. I woke up thinking about pizza. I don’t know what it is about the pizza at the pizza place in Buster’s building. I got a real craving for it.”

THIRTY-ONE

I TOOK LULA across town and parked opposite Buster’s building.

“It isn’t even eleven o’clock and already there’s a line here,” Lula said. “Ordinarily I don’t do lines, but this is different. I bet I could eat a whole pie. What kind are you going to get?”

“I’m going to skip the pizza. I just had a peanut butter sandwich. I’ll wait here with the critters.”

Lula got into line, and I relaxed in Ranger’s Mercedes. Vlatko was out of the picture. Ranger was safe. I was wearing my own underwear. Life was good.

A Camaro with tinted windows parked on the other side of the street, two doors down from Buster. The driver got out, walked to Buster’s door, unlocked the door with a key, and let himself in. The man was stocky. Black hair, dark skin. T-shirt and jeans. Hoodie over the T-shirt. Odd, since it was almost eighty degrees. My first thought was that he was hiding a gun. My second thought was that I needed a new life because lately I thought everybody was packing a gun, and I was usually right.

Lula hustled out of the pizza place with a big pizza box.

“Fresh out of the oven,” Lula said. “I had to pay extra for it because they said they were in a position where they had to pay extra for the herbs. Not that I care, because you know how important herbs are in pizza.”

She opened the lid and I looked at the pizza. It was spectacular.

“Maybe just one piece,” I said.

“Help yourself.”

I took a bite and sighed. “Yum.”

“You can say that again. This here’s my favorite pizza place of all time. It’s got something special about it. It must be those herbs.”

I looked at the pizza. Basil leaves, oregano, something else.

“You see these green things?” I asked Lula. “What are they?”

“Herbs.”

“Yes, but what kind?”

“I’m not actually up on my herbs,” Lula said.

I suspected it was weed. Anything this good had to be illegal. I picked them off my piece.

The dogs were restless in the back of the SUV.

“I’m going to walk the pack,” I said.

“You need help?”

“I’ll be fine. Briggs has been working with them, and they’re much better on the leash. Stay here and enjoy the pizza.”

I walked one block toward State Street and turned the corner. I knew there was an empty lot with some scraggly grass halfway down the block. I got to the lot and commanded the dogs to tinkle. They didn’t look immediately motivated, so I walked them around a little on the grass and got most of them emptied out. I came back to the Mercedes and found a note on Lula’s seat.

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